Daily Thought for Thursday, April 21st

April 21, 2011

His Last Week On Earth As A Man – Identifying With Jesus – Part Five

Death and Dying

“This is my temporary Home.

It’s not where I belong

Windows and rooms that I’m passin’ through,

This was just a stop, on the way to where I’m going.

I’m not afraid because I know

 this was my temporary home.”

–         Zac Maloy, Luke Laird, Carrie Underwood (lyrics from ‘Temporary Home’)

–         )

Today’s Thought:

“The only religious way to think of death is as part and parcel of life.” – Thomas Mann

Today’s Question

Have you ever considered that it is not death we should fear, but rather that we should fear that we failed to live in a way that pleases God?  “Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” – Norman Cousins

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

 “No man should be afraid to die,

who hath understood what it is to live.”

- Thomas Fuller

“Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.  And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,  And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.  Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.  Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!  When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.  The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.  When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;  And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.  And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.  When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.  And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!  But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.  Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.  And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:  Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.  And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.  This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.  Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.  Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.  Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.  They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.  Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!  Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.  After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.  Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.  The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.  Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.  But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:  But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” – The Bible (John 19:1-34)

Jesus brought life through death; for it was in His dying that the penalty for humanities sins was paid and life everlasting was made possible.

Ironically in identifying with Jesus in death the focus becomes more about how we live.

By becoming a part of His death by allowing ourselves to be washed in His blood to receive forgiveness of our sins, we are born again to walk in a newness of life.  Our lives becomes less about the fact that we are perpetually dying in a physical sense and more focused on a dying to sin, self and the things that would separate us from Him and His will and more about living to reflect who He is and what He means to us.

Death and taxes are inevitable but for the Christian a natural death means life everlasting: while a failure to live life to the fullest for Him means we fail to die daily so that the best of Him can be revealed in us.

Jesus died so that we could live – may we daily die so that He can live through us.

Today’s Verses:

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Hebrews 9:27-28

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

                        1 Corinthians 15:55-57

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.  For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

       Philippians 1:20:25

Today’s Prayer:

Father, in life Jesus showed me how to live; in death He made it possible for me to live eternally – so may I live worthy of His death and die having done my best to live for Him.